Captain Underpants

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Home : 2002 : February : 22

Captain Underpants
By Sue

I love the Captain Underpants books, but you just have to be aware that I have a wacky sense of humor (and think that is an important quality to have in life.)

The book is written (and, yeah mispelled) as if a second or
third grader actually wrote it! The characters inside draw and show their own self-made books. There are pages that the reader can flip back and forth to see robots moving, etc. (You will know your students are reading them because you will hear the inevitable crunching of the pages turning.) Yes, they make fun of cafeteria ladies, and the principal (Who turns into Captain Underpants and

wears his underwear on his head in an hypnotic trance.)

Yes they are silly, but so is Junie B. Jones. These books have turned several of my boys into chapter book readers (instead of I Spy or Magazine "lookers"). They have moved from Captain Underpants to Bailey Kids, to Jerry Spinelli in one year. So, while I would not do a literature study on them (who knows? What a model for making your own story.) I can credit them for hooking my students on reading.